Posted May 13 2026
By Alasdair Spinner
The latest (2024) RANZCP specialist pathway data was published so I thought to share some points that may be of interest to you from a psychiatry workforce perspective. These figures are from 1st Jan - 31 Dec 2024.
- 123 applications to RANZCP
- 66 substantially comparable
- 48 partially comparable
- 7 not comparable
The main source countries continue to be:
- India (34)
- UK (31)
- followed by Nigeria and Sri Lanka (12 each)
Psychiatry remains one of the more active SIMG pathways, with RANZCP seeing numbers and approx, 300 psychiatrists currently progressing through the pathway. However it still is much less in volume than RACGP or RACP.
Applications dipped around the COVID period but have picked up again, with 2024 representing the highest number 2015-2024. No year until 2024 has seen 100+ applications.
As expected, substantially comparable psychiatrists remain the most straightforward and valuable candidate cohort from a pathway perspective, although it will be interesting to see how the newer RANZCP Accelerated Pathway and expedited specialist pathway (ESP) data affects 2025 RANZCP data.
I’ve also shared a short update on the early ESP Psychiatry numbers here. The ESP opened December 2024.
I’m always happy to share what we’re seeing in terms of candidate pipelines or market movement, sources etc. You can reach me on alasdair@spinnermedical.com